all the goldens I have seined before in Colorado were all brown too...just a tiny bit of gold tips in the legs and abdomen...the reason I knew they were goldens is because an entomologist friend verified it for me...everyone fishes the sallys etc that are all yellow...but I think you are right...brown with some gold wire is probably all you need...if that...the reddish brown hackle more than likely does the job...

I have caught more fish on the black ones with the hackle...even in "golden" territory...

my friend told me that the nymphs cant actually swim...so tying the droppers on to the hook curve wasnt so good an idea because the nymph would flow through the water more evenly , not natural...he told me when they fell off a branch or whatever they were clinging onto they went pretty erratic...a tell tsle marker for a predator...so after that I always tied my droppers to the nymphs eye...so the nymph moved more erratic??

I like the pheaseant feathers a lot...in the water the move just like a hackle a bit...

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ted...trout bum/wandering monk
public water 20"er
public land pope & young

Breac à linne, slat à coille is fiadh à f́reach - mèirle às nach do ghabh gàidheal riamh nàire. a fish from the river, a rod from the woods and a stag from the mountain , thefts ne'er a Gael was ashamed
...and old gaelic proverb...